1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a endoscopic surgical instrument which may be manipulated by a human surgical operator, such as a doctor, nurse, or the like.
2. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
Surgical procedures require considerable touch and feel of the surgeon in the operation of the particular surgical instrumentation in order to satisfactorily and carefully accomplish the desired objective of the surgical procedure. Accordingly, surgical instruments must incorporate into their design operability, the ability of the surgeon to rely on simply touch techniques for activation of the instruments. Additionally, such instruments should also be designed to avoid or reduce strain upon the arms, hands and fingers of the surgeon or other human surgical operator.
Such objectives are particularly critical with respect to endoscopic surgical instruments. Endoscopic procedures gain access to the inside of an anatomical cavity by using an implement, such as a trocar, cannula, or a needle having a sharpened point to pierce or puncture the bodily tissues, muscles, membranes, or the like, which may form a portion or surround the cavity wall. A surgical needle, for example, connected to a catheter may be used to pierce a cavity, a blood vessel, subarachnoid heat ventricle or the like. After piercing such cavity, the needle is left in situ and used to inject or withdraw gases or liquid-phase fluids from the cavity, or to insufflate the cavity by injection of, for example, a particular inert gas or other fluid, resulting in a laparoscopic environment.
Since the area in which the surgeon must perform procedures incorporating endoscopic surgical instrumentation is smaller than that normally encountered when conventional surgical techniques are employed, reliance by the surgeon upon touch and feel during the surgery becomes even more critical, and surgical instrumentation must take this factor into consideration such that touch and feel are transferred between the surgeon's hand and the fingers through the instrument and between the area of operation with the abdomen or other area and the surgeon's hand.
Many surgical instruments for use in endoscopic and conventional surgical procedures, such as forceps and other cutting instruments, incorporate a pistol-like handle. Typical of such prior art pistol-like handles is that as shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,026,375, entitled "Surgical Cutting Instrument". Many such instruments include a protrusion or abutment on the pistol-like handle in order to receive the thumb of the surgeon. Accordingly, such instruments may not maximize surgical touch and feel between the area of surgery and the surgeon's hand.
In co-pending application Ser. No. 756,570, filed Sep. 9, 1991, and entitled "Surgical Instruments Handle & Forceps Assembly", assigned to the same assignee as the present application, there is shown and disclosed another type of endoscopic surgical instrument handle assembly.
The present invention addresses the problems and the deficiencies of the prior art, as discussed above.